Shipments last month up 29% from Sept.

ELKHART — The recreational vehicle business that's a major part of northern Indiana's economy is going strong this year.

A Recreation Vehicle Industry Association report show that RV shipments to retailers last month were up 29 percent from September and nearly 17 percent more than during October 2012.

That goes along with what Thor Industries President Bob Martin has seen with his Elkhart-based company, which employs about 7,600 workers in Indiana.

“Things have been positive for Thor over the last year. It's good to see (similar numbers) for the industry as a whole,” Martin told the South Bend Tribune.

Most RV manufacturers have operations in northern Indiana. Elkhart County, just east of South Bend, saw thousands of layoffs from RV factories early in the recession, leading it to have one of the state's highest unemployment rates for a couple years.

The county's jobless rate peaked in 2009 at 18.9 percent. It was 7.4 percent for last month.